Somebody loves you A4e. Wish we knew who
• Stranger and stranger grows the saga surrounding welfare-to-work specialists A4e, the company owned by the prime minister's one-time adviser Emma Harrison. It has employees suspected of fraud, and Harrison is the recipient of a tide of bad publicity. She needs friends. One guy comes to mind. We'd love to know who he is. What we do know is that someone was engaged in helpful tinkering with A4e's page on Wikipedia. In 2009, when unhelpful stories about A4e began appearing in the press and on Channel 4, whoever it was took to correcting and amending that page – and also making minor alterations to Harrison's Wiki entry, the page for The Secret Millionaire (the series featured Harrison) and that concerning Thornbridge Hall, her home. All low key, but not enough, perhaps. Journalist Ian Silvera traced the IP location to a computer services company called Techdept in Sheffield. Among Techdept's clients – A4e. Then things got strange. Yes that is our IP address, said technical director Richard Grundy, but "we have found no record of A4e instructing the changes made by our employee to the Wikipedia page in emails or task records. For which reason I have to assume it was his own decision to make the changes." A mystery altruist then. Boy does she need him now.
• What of Ukip? Buoyed by recent defections from the Tories, they should be happy campers as they look forward to the London Assembly elections. But it is hard to keep good cheer. Last week we flagged up the re-emergence of Paul Wiffen, the candidate who was nasty about black people and Travellers. And now we hear of discord over the party's choice of lead candidate. Barrister and Ukip City of London spokesman Steven Woolfe has been propelled to the top spot despite being voted only fourth in an election to decide the frontrunner. The move by party chiefs has apparently left regional chairman David Coburn a little sour, and little wonder. He had been nominated for the lead role. Needs the wisdom of Solomon to sort it out. Luckily, the party's national executive includes Neil "liar and a cheat" Hamilton, the one-time "cash for questions" MP.
• Happy days for London mayor Boris Johnson, as he watches his deadly rival Ken Livingstone struggling to bat away diversionary questions about his tax arrangements. Livingstone says it's all a smear. The problem with smears is that they work. Still, Johnson has irritations of his own, the biggest being Sonia Purnell's unflattering biography Just Boris, now out in paperback. Out and about the other day, Johnson was asked by tormentors from the website Boris Watch to sign a copy of the hated biography. Cornered, he did so. "This is total bollocks," scribbled the mayor. "All the best; Boris Johnson."
• Over at his second home, the Telegraph, there is anger at the decision of ice-cream makers Ben and Jerry to dedicate a flavour – Apple-y Ever After! – to the concept of gay marriage. A coup for campaigners Stonewall. Telegraph types just don't like it. "Just imagine the response from the well-organised international left, liberal, progressive, multicult gay lobby MSM, if an ice cream company had decided to run an anti-gay marriage campaign," posts one reader. "This poxy pc company is now off my family's menu," pledges another. "Let's hope it comes with a free pack of retroviral drugs," is one of the more thoughtful contributions. Ben and Jerry? Ben and Jerry! A-ha: now it all makes sense.
• After all the bad news the Lib Dems have been forced to endure, some good news. Thursday marks the 50th anniversary of the historic Orpington byelection victory over the Tories. The winner, Lord Avebury – then plain Eric Lubbock – tells us the secret was basic shoe leather. "The March of 1962 was bitterly cold, and the Conservative candidate sat in a heated caravan and sent out Tory ladies to invite people to visit him, which didn't go down too well on the doorstep," says the peer, now 83. The cuttings are interesting too. "We must not stop in our efforts to overthrow Tory blunder," proclaimed Lubbock in 1962, and 50 years later he's been fighting the coalition's welfare proposals and the scythe being taken to legal aid. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Twitter: @hugh_muir